Friday, February 10, 2012

Blog Entry #4


FGCU Food Forest, Who knew?
            One of the best field trips so far in the university colloquium course was the Florida Gulf Coast University food forest. We learned so much about growing vegetables, fruit, and other native and non-native plants. The FGCU food forest was created by students to show them how to live a sustainable life as well as learning where food comes from and how long it takes for food to grow. The food forest was so impressive, they were growing all sorts of vegetables from carrots, eggplants, green peppers to radishes.
            I never knew that you could use natural pesticides such as onions and grits to get rid of ants and other unwanted guests. Knowing that you can have fresh vegetables and fruit without harsh pesticides that are not good for you and the environment is pretty neat. The food forest really opened my eyes and made me care for the environment a lot more. I’m actually really interested in growing my own vegetables and fruit trees, it would be nice to look in the backyard and see all my hard work bloom.
            Being in the university colloquium course, we read stories all the time about how to live a sustainable life. But for the first time I got to experience what it actually looks like to be living a sustainable life. Kelly Walsh who is one of the directors of the food forest was really passionate about growing food and she often makes meals from the food forest and from her home since she grows food there. She made star-fruit salsa the other day with her own star-fruit and even made tasty sandwiches with the different types of lettuce growing in the forest. I never really knew how influential one visit could make on a person to change their mind about sustainability.

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